Archery device



April 5, 1966 s. N. JENSON ARCHERY DEVICE Filed May 7. 1964 Fiiiill'IE 2I I 4 5 2 I 3 INVENT STANLEY N. JEN

ATTORNEY u w v ,1, 5 M..-. I W 6 United States Patent 3,244,161 ARCHERYDEVICE Stanley N. Jensen, 504 E. Fulton St., Edgerton, Wis. Filed May 7,1964, Ser. No. 365,677 1 Claim. (Cl. 124-24) The present inventionrelates to archery, and more particularly to a device for releasablyholding an arrow in shooting position on a bow and automaticallyreleasing the arrow for firing as the bow is drawn.

In using a bow and arrow, particularly for hunting, it is oftenessential to carry the bow for extended periods of time with an arrowpositioned on the bow in preparation for instant drawing and firing ofthe weapon. To hold an arrow, in such a condition of readiness forprolonged periods with the index finger of the hand used for graspingthe bow becomes very fatiguing, particularly in cold weather.Furthermore, with modern bows provided with an arrow rest and/or with acontoured hand grip, it is often necessary to shift the bow hand fromthe desired gripping position in order to hold the arrow in place, thusnecessitating repositioning the bow in the hand prior to shooting.

To eliminate the necessity for manually holding an arrow in shootingposition for extended periods of time, the principal object of thepresent invention is to provide a simple and dependable device adaptedto hold an arrow in shooting position and to automatically release thearrow and move out of its path in response to the rearward movement ofthe arrow as the bow is drawn prior to firing.

An additional object of the invention is to provide such a device whichis compact and does not interfere with the normal use of the bow.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a device having nopivots or other mechanical elements which might become frozen or jammedin inclement weather or as a result of accidental bumping orcontamination with dirt or other foreign matter as might occur if thehow were dropped.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such a deviceadapted to accommodate arrows of various diameters.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such a devicecapable of being easily attached to any one of a wide variety of bows byan unskilled person without structurally modifying the bow.

These and other important objects of the invention will be apparent byreference to the following detailed description and the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a partial side view, slightly in perspective, of an archerybow, showing an arrow held in shooting position against the bow-stringby a resilient device according to a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a partial perspective full size view of the bow shown inFIGURE 1 with an arrow in firing position, showing the device mounted onthe bow, with a portion of the device cut away to illustrate itsinternal construction;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional top view taken along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2,showing the device in holding engagement with an arrow;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional top view corresponding to FIGURE 3 showing thedevice in the process of releasing the arrow as the bow is drawn priorto firing;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional top view corresponding to FIGURE 3 showing aflexible but non-resilient embodiment of the invention in holdingengagement with an arrow;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional top view corresponding to 3,244,161 PatentedApr. 5, 1966 FIGURE 3 showing another embodiment of the inventioncomprising a pivotally mounted device; and

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of still another device according to theinvention, comprising a resilient member formed from sheet metal.

Referring to the drawings, FIGURE 1 illustrates an archery how 11 withan arrow 12 held in loaded position against the undrawn bowstring 13 bya device according to the present invention identified by the numeral14.

As is most clearly shown in FIGURE 2, the device 14 comprises aresilient normally straight arm or strap 15 provided at its free endwith an arrow gripping member 16 and at its opposite end with a mountinglug 17. In the illustrated embodiment, the resilient arm comprises acoil spring 18 attached to the mounting lug and to member 16 and coatedwith a protective covering 19 of flexible elastic material.

The arrow gripping member 16 is formed of resilient material andcomprises a pair of oppositely disposed gripping fingers 21 adapted tospread apart to receive the shaft of an arrow in gripping relationbetween the fingers, the internal surfaces of which normally define anopening 22 including a semi-cylindrical portion 23 smaller than thediameter of the smallest arrow adapted to be gripped by the device.Although various resilient materials may be used for the grippingmember, it is desirable to select for this purpose a material, such asnatural or synthetic rubber, having not only the required resiliency butalso a high coeflicient of friction to provide a secure grip on theshaft of the wooden, plastic or metal arrow. Additionally, the gripping,force of the member may be increased, if desired, by incorporating asupplementary resilient member, such as a spring or an elastic band,within or about the resilient fingers 21.

As shown in FIGURES 2 and 3, the device is attached to the bow with themounting lug 17 positioned approximately opposite the position of thearrow on the opposite side of the bow adjacent the arrow rest 24, sothat the gripping member and the resilient arm assume the position shownin FIGURE 3 adjacent the rearward surface of the bow when the arrow isengaged in gripping relation by the gripping member.

While the means for mounting the device may comprise a single wood screwextending through elongate hole 25 in the mounting lug and anchoring themounting lug 17 directly to the how, the preferred construction shown inFIGURES 2, 3 and 4 incorporates a bracket comprising a plate 26 mountedto the how by small wood screws 27 and provided with a threaded boss 28to which the mounting lug 17 is secured by a screw 29 extending throughhole 25 and threaded into the boss. If it is preferred not to drivescrews into the bow, which in some cases may affect its resilientcharacteristics, the bracket may be secured thereto by other means suchas by taping or cementing or by means of a removable clamping device.The elongate hole 25 simplifies the attachment of the device to the bowby providing means for adjusting the position of the arrow grippinghead, thereby eliminating the need to locate the bracket on the bow withgreat accuracy. This arrangement also allows the device to be readilyremoved from the bow or moved to a vertical inoperative position, as maybe necessary to allow the bow to fit into a carrying case. Additionally,while the gripping head will accommodate arrows having shafts ofsomewhat different diameters, it may occasionally be desired to exchangethe device for one adapted to grip an arrow of significantly differentshaft diameter, which may likewise be easily accomplished merely byremoving screw 29.

To use the device to hold an arrow in loaded position, the arrow isstrung to the bowstring with the string exerting a slight forward thruston the arrow and is manually held in position adjacent the bow while thedevice is 7 ping member is moved rearwardly with the arrow as shown inFIGURE 4, and, by reason of its attachment to the bow, assumes adiagonal position causing the arrow to pull free from engagement by thegripping member. As soon as the arrow is disengaged by the gripping memher, the device assumes the position shown in FIGURE 2 in which it iscompletely out of the path of the arrow and in no way influences theaccuracy of its flight.

An alternate embodiment of the device shown in FIG- URE comprises agripping member 31 similar in form to member 16 but which is mounted tothe bow 11' by a flexible non-resilient cord 32 attached at one end toan eye 33 on member 31 and at the other end to screw 34 driven into thebow. This embodiment of the invention functions in the same mannerpreviously described, except that the resilient arrow gripping member ismoved out of the path of the arrow 12' upon disengagement therefrommerely by the influence of gravity rather than by resilient meansconnecting the gripping member to the bow.

Another embodiment of the invention shown in FIG- URE 6 likewisecomprises an arrow gripping member 35 similar to member 16 but pivotallysupported by a pin 36 extending through a pair of ears, one of which isshown at 37, on a mounting plate 38 attached to the rearward surface ofthe bow 11". In this embodiment, the arrow gripping member isresiliently urged from the illustrated position in engagement with arrow12" to the released position shown in dotted lines by an elastic band 39extending between a button 40 on member 35 and a screw 4-1 in the sideof the bow.

FIGURE 7 shows still another embodiment of the invention generallysimilar to device 14 and adapted to function in the same manner,comprising a member 42 formed from a single piece of resilient sheetmetal to provide a resilient arm 43 and arrow gripping fingers 44, withthe arrow gripping portion of the member being coated with a coating offlexible material 45 to increase the frictional grip of the fingers onan arrow shaft.

Since these and other modifications are within the spirit of theinvention, the foregoing description is to be considered as illustrativeonly, the scope of the invention being defined by the following claim.

I claim:

A device for holding an arrow in loaded position on an archery bowadjacent one side of said bow and in engagement with the bowstringthereof, said device comprising; an arrow gripping member formed ofresilient material and having therethrough an opening contiguous at oneside with the exterior of said member and smaller in transverse internaldimension than the shaft of said arrow, said member being adapted tolaterally receive the shaft of said arrow into said opening and togrippingly engage said shaft so received therein, a resilient armattached at one end to said member opposite the exterior portion thereofcontiguous with said opening, said resilient arm being provided at itsother end with means attaching said other end to a side surface of saidbow opposite the side thereof adjacent said arrow in said load-edposition.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,691,974 10/1954Nelson 124-24 X 2,777,435 1/1957 Brooks 124-41 X 3,153,406 10/1964Pemble 12441 X RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primaly Examiner.

